These are the words of Jay Goodrich, and when he taught Intro to Adventure Sports Photography, he invited students to approach building a photograph the same way you tackle cooking a meal. You don’t start adding the seasonings without the primary ingredients in place.

The core ingredients are the, “staple of the photograph,” Jay explained.

To demonstrate how he works in the proverbial kitchen, Jay took students through this thinking on a snowy ski shoot.

The shoot happened on sunny day on a steep mountain and in the video you’ll see how he used a lone tree to mitigate the intensity of shooting directly into the sun (light) and how that same tree offered context and interest to the composition. And how the clarity is in the settings.